The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1887-12-24
Janie's Christmas.
BY HELEN WHITNEY CLARK.


sOh, dear, what lonesome day it
will be for me i
To pretty jamie Cross, Mrs. Simms'
pretentious clearinghouse was as lone
some and dreary as the Desert of Sa-
hara.
She had come from her home at Pine
Hill, to try and earn some money to
help her father make the "last pay
ment" on his forty-acre farm and as
she worked at a small milliner shop
down town, and wore plain calico
dresses, day in and day out, with a
cheap black alpaca on Sundays. the
other ladies at Mrs. Simms' looked
coldly at her, or over her, or beyond
her. If they spoke to her at all, it was
in frigid, numb-palsy kind of way,
that seemed to chill jamie through and
through, to the very marrow of her
bones.
Miss Verena Gillette, the Boarding
house Oracle, had pronounced jamie a
nobody" after glance at the slim,
little figure, in the pink calico frock,
with her hair twisted in a mass of
glittering gold, high upon her head.
$50 fashioned - sneered Miss
Verena. "No more style than dish
pan."
And her w-boarders and follow
ers, the Widow Dashaway, Miss Ada
lima Duffy, and the two Miss Bobbs,
at once took their cue and turned up
their noses at poor, homesick jamie,
who felt forlorn enough in her new
position among cold hearted stran-
gers.
However, she was not compelled to
see much of them outside of meal times,
excepting on Sundays, or other holi
days; for the rest had their places of
business as well as herself. -
Miss Verena Gillette, with all her
airs and graces was 'saleslady' in
Griggs & Grimshawe's Mercantile En-
porium on Broadway Adalina Duffy
cashier at restaurant and the Widow
Dashaway was teacher in a Kinder
garten school.
AS for the masculine portion of the
boarders, they were of no avail in
Janie's case, being prosaic married
men, middle-aged and grum, who
swallowed their vituals and took them
selves out of the house as soon as pos
sible.
But when, as occasionally happened,
jamie had been induced by the we'll
meaning landlady-who never saw an
inch beyond her nose-to spend an
evening in the parlor with the other
"ladies," she might as well been one
of the china ornaments on the mantle
piece for all the share she had in the
conversation.
Sitting bolt upright on the stiff. legged
horse-hair sofa, she had the pleasure of
listening to discussion of the latest
Styles Miss Gillette being appealed
to on this side and on that as to what
would or would not be worn during the
current season.
And so tomorrow would be Christ
mas, and no wonder poor jamie felt
lonely, with the prospect of whole day
IN such company.
If 1 could only afford to go home,
she thought, winking very hard to keep
the tears back, 'and see father and
mother, and grandma, and the dear
old home! know just how it looks,
with the hickory logs cracking and
swapping in the fireplace, and strings
of dried apples and red peppers hang
ing in festoons from the kitchen raftersI
with grandma knitting in the high
backed rocking chair, and mother
making cookies for tea, or setting away
the crooks of milk on the butterJ
shelves, and father smoking his cob
pipe, and
But here jamie broke down in spite
of her efforts to wink the tears back,
and sobbed like home-sick child.
Dear mel sighed Miss Verena Gill
lette, the same evening, as she glanced
over the top of Janie's head at the
Widow Dashaway, who sat next, what
luck does happen to SOM folks =
Now, there's my Cousin John. I seel
by the papers to-day (Niss Verena
always said seen instead Of 'saw')-sIl
seen by the papers he's been left a for
tune by distant relative out in Ar
kinsaw.'
'Oh, Verena!'
The Widow Dashaway glanced past
jamie at Miss Gillette.
'How romantic Do Introduce us
'Yes, do,' chorused the Miss Bobbs,
and Adalina Duffy, glancng around, or
over, or beyond poor Jant.
But he amt here,' explained We're
ma. sHe's in Illinois. / haven't saw
him (Miss Verena used saw when it
should have been 'seen') Z haven't saw
him since last summer year ago, when
l was a-visiting my aunt. John amt
my real cousin you know. Only his
uncle married my aunt, and we call
ourselves cousins, explained Miss We're
ma, looking down on her plate with
conscious air, which gave her heare's
to understand that if John was not H.
ready much nearer than cousin, ne
would be soon, thereby filling their
hearts with envy on account of the
fortune left by the 'Arkansaw' rell-
tive.
y x
sAh, girls, do look here A gentle-
man in sleigh stopping here Who
on earth is it7'
It was Christmas morning, and JAMIE